Ben Davis

Private markets investment firm, FinCap, has announced five investment managers behind their now available Helm portfolio range, providing institutional grade private markets access to wholesale investors and their advisers.

The managers announced to date span a range of distinct private markets asset classes, including private equity, late-stage venture, global infrastructure, flexible private credit, Australian and New Zealand private equity and royalties.

The portfolios, Helm Income and Helm Growth, are the inaugural line-up of portfolios offered on the firm’s newly launched private markets managed accounts platform; the FinCap Platform.

The managers are:

• StepStone Group, a global investments manager with access to the innovation economy through their venture and growth strategy. They offer early access to leading private technology companies.
• Brookfield Infrastructure Income, one of the world’s largest infrastructure owner-operators. Brookfield Infrastructure Income has exposure to data centres, the energy transition, transport, and utilities, generating largely contracted and inflation-linked income.
• T. Rowe Price Oak Hill Advisors Flex Credit, a flexible private credit mandate that moves across the credit spectrum to capture the best risk-adjusted income opportunities, managed by a global credit specialist.
• Roc Summit Private Equity, an Australian PE manager. They provide rare wholesale access to a diversified, secondaries-led book of Australian and New Zealand private equity, the kind of exposure typically locked inside institutional closed-end funds.
• Partners Group Royalties deliver uncorrelated income from music, pharmaceutical, energy and media royalties. Partner Group Royalties offer a return stream that moves independently of equities or traditional credit.

Managers were assessed against a portfolio construction discipline and an evergreen due-diligence framework covering liquidity, valuation integrity, fee alignment and capital dependency.

Every candidate met an independent operational due-diligence review and a structural-risk screen before approval from FinCap’s Investment Committee.

“The field was genuinely competitive, with many funds evaluated for each slot. Inclusion is selective and ongoing, rather than a one-off list. Managers must continue to meet the same standards to retain their place on the platform,” says Ben Davis, head of portfolio and investment solutions at FinCap.

Davis notes that the manager selections, including the five announced, are designed to complement one another across geography, strategy and return driver: global venture capital and AI exposure through StepStone; contracted, inflation-linked infrastructure income from Brookfield; go-anywhere credit income via Oak Hill Advisors; domestic mid-market private equity through Roc Summit; and uncorrelated royalty income from Partners Group.

“The result is diversification by what drives the return, not just by label,” says Davis.

The Helm portfolios are the FinCap Platform’s flagship range of model portfolios and are the ready-built expression of the platform’s manager research: Helm Income is a highly diversified income solution spanning infrastructure, real estate, asset-based lending, royalties, flexible credit and direct lending, constructed to distribute yield. Helm Growth is a private-equity-led portfolio, constructed for capital growth with a secondary income stream.

An integrated portfolio-construction approach is used for the two offerings. Each manager is a selected holding sized to a defined role (a growth engine, an income engine, a diversifier).

Under the bonnet, both are diversified multi-manager portfolios of approximately fifteen private-markets funds, structured across three tiers: a daily-liquid sleeve (listed and daily-priced funds, representing roughly 20–30% of the portfolio) for flexibility and redemption capacity; a core of evergreen private-markets funds dealing monthly and quarterly; and, over time, selected closed-end vehicles for specific exposures.

“The platform does the manager selection, due diligence and ongoing monitoring, and Helm packages the best of that research into two portfolios an adviser can use directly, rather than asking each adviser to assemble private-markets exposure fund by fund. The result is institutional-style private-markets construction, delivered in an advised, wholesale managed account with periodic liquidity and no capital calls,” says Davis.

The Investment Committee ratifies each portfolio and oversees every holding on an ongoing basis, including continuous liquidity classification, governance assessment and formal periodic review, supported by independent research and operational due diligence.

Both Helm portfolios are available as managed accounts through an adviser on the FinCap Platform from A$100,000. The adviser registers and allocates the wholesale client to either Helm Income or Helm Growth. As a managed account, the client holds the underlying funds beneficially, with consolidated reporting and a single point of access.

The Helm cohort represents the inaugural line-up, not the full complement. Additional managers will join over time as they clear the same process.

The broader signal, however, is the kind of platform FinCap is building: a curated set of portfolios beginning with the Helm range and extending to adviser-led and consultant-led portfolios, alongside a curated pipeline of wholesale private-markets opportunities.

“The common thread is purpose: every manager and every deal earns its place by adding something specific to a client portfolio. This is not a shelf where managers pay to list product. It is a deliberately curated, governed set of high-value-add opportunities, built for advised wholesale clients, and the range will broaden on that basis rather than as an open menu,” says Davis.

“The platform reflects broader structural change in the Australian market. Demand from advisers and wholesale clients for diversified, governed access to private markets has outrun traditional routes that require large minimums, capital calls and multi-year lock-ups,” says Davis.

“FinCap’s evergreen fund structures and the managed-account platform now makes institutional-grade private markets practical for advised wholesale clients, with periodic liquidity and professional construction and oversight,” he says.

Scott Bradley, Vice President of Australia and New Zealand at StepStone Group, says they are “pleased to have been one of the first managers selected by FinCap as part of its new Private Markets Managed Account Solutions platform.”

With exposure to global venture capital and growth equity, StepStone’s diversified portfolio is built on early access to the companies defining the innovation economy. Historical examples include SpaceX and Databricks, alongside leading foundational AI companies.

“As demand for private markets continues to build among Australian investors, advisers are increasingly seeking scalable ways to access high-quality private market opportunities. Reliable access, institutional-grade distribution, and thoughtful implementation will be critical to supporting the long-term growth of private markets within wealth portfolios,” says Bradley.

“FinCap’s platform represents an important step forward in helping advisers access private market strategies in a more structured way. We look forward to supporting FinCap and its adviser network as more investors seek the diversification and long-term return potential private markets can offer.”

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Ben Davis

FinCap has launched its managed account platform, bringing institutional grade private markets access to wholesale investors and their advisers for the first time through a structure built around genuine return conviction, a two engine investment architecture and strong governance.

The FinCap Private Markets Platform launches with three managed portfolios spanning private equity, private credit and real assets, anchored by four globally recognised investment managers and supported by a purpose built investment committee, asset allocation research partner and institutional due diligence backbone.

“Private markets portfolio construction has historically been the domain of large institutions with dedicated resources,” says Ben Davis, head of portfolio and investment solutions at FinCap. “What we are building at FinCap changes that. Increased manager specialisation and the rise of evergreen investment structures have broadened access beyond traditional multi-strategy platforms.”

The FinCap Platform portfolios – Helm Income and Helm Growth – are constructed to capture the illiquidity and complexity premium that listed markets cannot reach. Each portfolio holds 10 to 20 funds, with around 15 preferred positions, and applies a 15% single-fund cap. Every manager is gated through institutional grade investment due diligence before any allocation is made.

Davis adds, “FinCap has designed these highly concentrated portfolios to be genuinely complementary to existing public market holdings rather than diluted private markets beta that an adviser could replicate themselves. BCA Research will support us with forward looking capital market assumptions and asset allocation research applied directly to our portfolios.”

BCA Research, a global independent investment research firm, is responsible for the top-down allocation, and bottom up manager selection is anchored by a global manager research partner delivering institutional investment due diligence and operational due diligence backbone that gates every manager appointment.

Both partners were chosen for their global capabilities, positioning the platform to extend into offshore product access and closed-end, capital-call structures from Q3 2026 onwards.

Three investment managers will anchor the Helm portfolios, each appointed through direct partnership.

Christian Ryan, Executive Chair of FinCap, adds “The platform addresses three problems that have historically locked wholesale investors out of private markets at scale: liquidity, technology and governance.”

On liquidity, Helm runs a multi-stage liquidity architecture designed to match the redemption realities of illiquid assets. On technology, the platform is built natively for periodic valuations, capital calls and illiquid redemption windows – not retrofitted from a listed-market infrastructure. On governance, the Investment Committee was designed from day one to support the platform.

“Listed investments account for only a small fraction of global investable assets. The vast majority of opportunities sit within private markets covering private equity, private credit, infrastructure and specialised real estate. These are not niche or emerging categories but have been key components of institutional portfolios for decades. Yet for many investors, and by extension their advisers, access has remained limited.

“A strategic allocation of 10 to 20 per cent to private markets can materially enhance portfolio outcomes without compromising overall flexibility. This is not a radical proposition, but a measured evolution of traditional portfolio construction and one that aligns more closely with how institutional investors have approached asset allocation for years.”

Alongside the managed portfolios, the platform also features FinCap Direct, a bespoke co-investment channel offering platform members access to single-asset opportunities in private equity and real estate.

FinCap was founded by Ryan and is backed by a strategic investment from Pinnacle Investment Management Group Limited, one of Australia’s leading multi-boutique investment managers.

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The committee will provide independent governance and oversight of the asset allocation, portfolio construction and fund selection processes underpinning the FinCap Platform, which is designed to give financial advisers and wholesale investors diversified exposure to private markets including private equity, private credit and real assets.

Bradley and Wright will be joined on the committee by Christian Ryan, Chair of FinCap, and Ben Davis, Head of FinCap’s Portfolio & Investment Solutions.

Bradley brings more than 25 years of experience across investment management, asset consulting and financial services governance. She has held senior roles at several leading Australian investment firms, with deep expertise in portfolio construction, manager research and investment governance frameworks.

Wright co-founded Zenith Investment Partners and spent more than two decades as its CEO, building the firm into one of Australia’s leading investment research and ratings houses. Wright is now Head of Client Solutions at Pinnacle Investment Management and brings more than 30 years of experience across investment research, manager evaluation and consulting to the Committee.

“Having an independent Chair with Leanne’s calibre and experience, alongside David’s deep expertise in investment research and manager evaluation, gives us a Committee with genuine substance,” Ryan says. “As we prepare to bring the FinCap Platform to market, we wanted a governance framework that reflects how institutional investors think about oversight, accountability and rigour.”

“Leanne’s background in investment governance and portfolio construction makes her ideally suited to chair the Committee, and David’s track record at Zenith speaks for itself. Their independence and combined depth of experience will be invaluable as we scale the platform.”

The establishment of the Investment Committee follows FinCap’s appointment of BCA Research as a strategic research partner, announced in April. BCA’s Private Markets and Alternatives division will support the development of asset allocation and portfolio construction frameworks for the platform.

The FinCap Platform targets wholesale investors across Australia and aims to deliver scalable portfolio solutions, giving advisers and asset consultants access to professionally managed private asset exposures backed by institutional-grade governance and reporting.

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Ben Davis

FinCap Group Holdings has appointed BCA Research as a strategic research partner as it prepares to launch its new managed account platform targeting asset consultants, advisers and their wholesale clients.

The partnership, executed through FinCap’s wholly owned subsidiary FinCap PAMA Pty Ltd, will see BCA Research support the development of asset allocation and portfolio construction frameworks for the forthcoming FinCap Platform. The platform is designed to provide diversified exposure to private markets, including private equity, private credit and real assets.

BCA Research, a global independent investment research firm, brings deep expertise in macro strategy and alternatives. Its Private Markets and Alternatives division advises institutional investors on capital market assumptions, asset allocation and portfolio construction.

At FinCap, Head of Portfolio and Investment Solutions Ben Davis will work closely with BCA to integrate these frameworks into the platform’s managed portfolios. The engagement will be led on BCA’s side by Brian Payne, Chief Strategist for Private Markets & Alternatives.

The FinCap Platform aims to replicate institutional best practice by clearly separating asset allocation from fund selection. While fund level due diligence will be conducted independently, BCA’s role will focus on anchoring the strategic and dynamic asset allocation process.

The specialised knowledge provided by the research firm across private market and alternative investments will be used to inform FinCap’s Investment Committee in making strategic and dynamic asset allocation decisions.

According to Davis, the evolution of private markets has created a more sophisticated investment environment, particularly for advised wholesale investors.

“Private markets portfolio construction has historically been the domain of large institutions with dedicated resources,” he says. “What we’re building at FinCap changes that. Increased manager specialisation and the rise of evergreen investment structures have broadened access beyond traditional multi-strategy platforms.”

“Strategic and dynamic asset allocation has become a genuine decision, not just a by-product of access. BCA will support us with forward looking capital market assumptions and asset allocation research applied directly to our portfolios.”

The platform is scheduled to launch in June 2026 and will target wholesale investors across Australia. It aims to deliver scalable portfolio solutions, enabling advisers and asset consultants to access professionally managed private asset exposures backed by institutional-grade governance and reporting.

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This appointment supports the continued build out of our Private Asset Managed Account platform, with a focus on institutional standard portfolio construction, governance and implementation. In the role, Ben will lead portfolio and investment solutions across the platform, supporting advisers and sophisticated investors to access high quality private market opportunities.

Ben brings more than 25 years of experience across investment research, consulting and portfolio solutions in the Australian wealth and advice market. He spent more than two decades at Zenith Investment Partners, where he was a Managing Partner and Equity Owner, and held senior leadership roles across investment research and consulting, including a dedicated focus on private markets.

Ben joins Michelle Woodburn, recently appointed to head Client Partnerships, who had previously helped design and grow the BT Panorama managed accounts platform. Together, they will build out FinCap’s PAMA capability across investment solutions and distribution as the platform scales.

The appointments follow Pinnacle Investment Management’s strategic investment in FinCap last July to support the launch and growth of the platform.

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Ben Davis

Zenith Investment Partners (Zenith) has announced the return of one of its original partners and senior investment consultant, Ben Davis, to the business. The respected industry executive will return to Zenith on 1 May 2024, working alongside investment director and founding partner, David Wright, and head of portfolio solutions, Steven Tang, in the Portfolio Solutions team.

Zenith managing director, Jason Huddy, said Mr Davis’ role will add additional depth and considerable market experience to the team, and further support the growing adviser demand for Zenith’s managed account solutions.

“After taking 12 months away from the industry to explore personal interests, Ben’s passion for investing has been rekindled. For nearly 20 years Ben was a respected leader with Zenith and an important contributor to our service delivery to advisers. He is well known to many of our clients and we are pleased to welcome him back,” Mr Huddy said.

Mr Davis will be the primary consultant for a number of the Group’s customised managed account client businesses, adding to the breadth of market experience within the team and helping to drive the continued growth and evolution of Zenith’s managed account offering.

Mr Davis is returning to the business in a client-facing role – and says it is a part of the business he has missed.

“I’m genuinely excited about the growth and evolution of Zenith’s managed account offering over the last 12 months, so it’s a really interesting time to be joining the team.

“I obviously have very high regard for the broader Zenith business and the leadership team I’ll be working alongside. I’m really looking forward to supporting the portfolio solutions team in delivering its range of portfolios to their diverse and growing client base,” Mr Davis said.

Zenith has been providing managed account portfolios since 2016 and currently manages close to $5 billion in FUM across its range of managed accounts, including both customised and public menu portfolio options.

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The performance of Zenith’s Elite Blend Models since their inception in 2009 is testament to this. The Elite Blends models are used by a range of Zenith’s Financial Planning clients and represent Zenith’s best case asset allocation and manager selection decisions, made by Zenith’s Investment Consulting team, led by Glen Franklin and Ben Davis.

Each of these models has outperformed competitors, and diversified fund benchmarks, since 2009 and have performed strongly over the past 12 months in a tough equity environment – with manager selection a key to generating this outperformance.

The High Growth model has returned 10.04% after fees over the past year, 4.99% ahead of its benchmark and 4.90% ahead of the median Diversified High Growth Fund.

Most of this added value (4.93%) has come from manager selection in the Australian Shares sector, with all funds in this sector outperforming – the most notable being the Perpetual Pure Microcap Fund (+37.08% over past year) and the OC Premium Small Companies Fund (+22.05%). Manager selection in the Alternatives sector also contributed to outperformance.

The return, risk and drawdown profile of these portfolios are shown below.

Performance

Zenith Head of Consulting Ben Davis said: “It’s pleasing to generate such strong performance in a tough environment for most traditional asset classes. Our preparedness to back high quality managers with flexible long short or concentrated mandates and target managers on the rise with low levels of funds under management has strongly driven this outperformance.

“Manager Selection is highly dependent on our funds research effort and our research team has been instrument in finding these opportunities to help our clients achieve these outcomes.

“Many of our financial planning groups that take model portfolios have between $200 and $500 million in funds under management and at these levels they can target high quality managers with concentrated mandates and low levels of funds under management. These are strategies that institutional funds often cannot access due to their large size. This is an often overlooked advantage for financial planners.”

Retail Platforms

According to Davis, platform choice can also have a strong bearing on client outcomes.

Low cost platforms tend to have lower quality investment menus and in our experience this can impact returns by more than the fees they save. Models we have created for these lower cost platforms in our experience have underperformed our Elite Blend Models by up to 3-4% p.a. In our view, these outcomes are not in the best interest of clients and emphasise that greater importance should be placed on platform selection.”

“Platform operators also need to be prepared to include highly active strategies of quality investment managers across a range of sectors. So much focus is placed on avoiding manager “blow ups” that the higher risk of these strategies sees them quite often overlooked. In our view if you don’t include these strategies with a greater chance of outperformance, you are compelling your clients to mediocre outcomes. In fact, on some platforms, clients may be better off using readymade diversified multi-manager funds than building their own portfolios.

“There’s no doubt mistakes will be made with manager selection – we have fired a number of poor performing managers over the years that were impacting client returns. The key is to weight the risky strategies at the appropriate level and have a highly diversified asset allocation approach, so that no one decision significantly impacts client outcomes.”

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Ben Davis

Zenith Associate Director and Manager of Zenith’s Retirement Portfolio Solutions, Ben Davis has announced the release of a range of six investment solutions designed to maximise income and age pension entitlements, protect capital and reduce investment risk to meet the lifelong income needs of retirees.

Davis confirmed that Retirement Portfolios had been developed in response to the growth in the Australian retiree sector and subsequent demand for dedicated portfolios for those people in retirement and builds on Zenith’s acknowledged model portfolios development strengths and expertise.

The population ‘bulge’ of the Baby Boomer / retirement age group is here and represents an unprecedented advice and business opportunity for financial advisers. In addition, age based defaults in corporate superannuation funds are growing quickly.

Commenting further Davis said, “Zenith’s Retirement Portfolio Solutions provides advisers the ability to construct dedicated and personalised retirement portfolios within existing compliance and Professional Indemnity insurance frameworks”.

“Within the six implementable Retirement Models, retirees will be provided with options to address the requirements of high net worth investors as well as age pension eligible investors. In addition, the portfolios are offered with or without the inclusion of an Annuity product option, which, in turn, can potentially further enhance pension benefits”.

Zenith’s six Portfolio options provide the following solutions for high net worth investor retirees through to age pension eligible investors:

• Retirement Defensive
• Retirement Core
• Retirement Growth
• Annuities + Retirement Defensive
• Annuities + Retirement Core
• Annuities + Retirement Growth

The Zenith models provide a retiree the potential to optimise pension benefits and achieve greater capital stability/security, income certainty, liquidity while at the same time reducing costs.

Furthermore, the portfolio solutions address key retiree considerations:

• For most retirees, the interaction of their portfolio with the aged pension is critical
• Retirees strongly dislike drawing down on capital and prefer the portfolio to generate income they can live off
• Retirees have an asymmetric return profile and are hyper sensitive to losses and may give up some upside for security

Davis believes that “Zenith’s continuing commitment to delivering high quality models, and transparent ‘look through’ portfolio holdings and characteristics reporting to the adviser market” makes the delivery of a specific set of Retirement Models the next logical progression in an ever growing market section – the Australian retiree market. A solution that we believe has not been adequately provided for in the past, and once again, signifies a continuing commitment by Zenith to provide new portfolio solutions when we see a need.

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